The 1980 Listening Post - Girl - Sheer Greed

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: January 1980 Girl Sheer Greed Genre: Rawk Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Requisite 80s cover: “Do You Love Me” by Kiss. The original is better, this sounds like a soundcheck. Before they were in LA Guns and Def Leppard, respectively, Phil Lewis and Phil Collen were members of this British glam rock band. Okay. Remember how great Buckcherry’s first album was? And how much of a disappointment the follow up, Time Bomb, was?? Think of this as that in reverse. What those two guys would go on to is much better than this, and maybe that’s a testament to other songwriters being involved in the process. I think Traci Guns and, well, we all know what the Leppard guys can do. This, on the other hand is just a lot of lead licks and rhythm guitar smacking. “My Number” is okay. Nice, snotty glam, influenced a bit by Boomtown Rats.

The 1980 Listening Post - Joey Wilson - Going Up

 1980 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Joey Wilson

Going Up

Genre: Forgotten New Wave/Power Pop

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

If You Don’t Want My Love

Taking Me Back

Underground

I Was a Fool

Out of Our World

Let’s connect Blondie to U2 and we will use the most arcane record we can find to do it. Cuz, I’m 100% sure there are a gazillion ways to “six degrees of Kevin Bacon”-ing those two bands. But we’re going to talk about this way so you you can mesmerize people at parties. 

And, by “mesmerize” I mean, “ensure that no one wants to invite you to more parties”. 

Or maybe they like this sort of thing.

Let’s dive in and talk about Going Up, the ONLY record by Local Philadelphia legend, Joey Wilson.

Joey Wilson was the first signing of a new label: Modern Records. 

Goldberg was obviously connected, since after this record flopped he concentrated on promoting his other business partner and put out a little record by Stevie Nicks called Bella Donna.

So, he was able to enlist a well known and suddenly out of work keyboardist-turned-producer to produce the record. One Jimmy Destri, late of the broken up Blondie. And Destri pulls out all the stops. 

Just as a side note…man, does he sound like Glenn Tilbrook. In every great way. 

The ominousness of The Brains on the opener, “If You Don’t Want My Love” sets this album squarely in the New Wave world. It’s glossy, and lush and dark and then gives way to a Billy Joel - meets Elvis Costello on the New Wave blacktop, “Taking Me Back”. 

Those two tracks bash into the showstopper  The broken-hearted ballad, the single, “Underground” which explodes with strings and horns and suggests the Billy Joel song that Billy never wrote. 

That brings us to “Hold On Girl”, which is where we get to talk about U2. And this is author assumption. Because I hear that song and it reminds me, from a production standpoint, of Steve Lillywhite. And The Edge. And I have to believe that it was this song that caught certain ears because after this record came out, and landed with a thud, Destri was invited to potentially produce u2’s War with Steve. They worked on three songs that have come out in various forms over the decades and, well, we all know that Destri didn’t end up being the producer on that, or any other, U2 album. But, because of THIS record, he got the shot to produce that one.  

The roots of 80s rock is in this thing. I hear not just the overproduction of Lillywhite but the song-stylings of Neil Finn. I would put Wilson next to anything Split Enz or Crowded House put out and you might think they were the same groups. Just without the incessant hooks that are needed to crack the charts. 

And the title track is a work of 80s Cars-esque majesty. But even they never really got this epic. 

What happened to Goldberg? He would manage Nirvana. 

And Wilson? He died of a heroin addiction at the age of 43. His lasting legacy is that you can buy this record for $2.75 in Mint condition on Discogs. 

Excuse me while I overpay for shipping….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va4P3zdvKFQ&list=PLlvn8uktX5LvbrTGop70Iu6HT7S1UaRUS

The 1980 Listening Post - The Piranhas - The Piranhas

 1980 Housekeeping 

The Piranhas

The Piranhas

Genre: Ska/New Wave That Madness and Ian Dury could be proud of)

3.5 our of 5

Highlights:

Getting Beaten Up

Tom Hark

Tension

Green Don’t Suit Me

I was recently chided for lack of knowledge of a certain Power Pop classic. The band in question was called The Real Kids and, well, the reason I didn’t know them was that they put out their album 1977 and that predated this project by one year. 

But, since I heard about them in the very very very excellent music series by Patrick Hicks on TikTok (He is now a member of this group and if you only follow ONE person on social media, make it him. And his podcast, Good Measure, is just as good. The guy is a musicology star waiting to explode. 

So, yeah. I didn’t know about The Real Kids. 

And I’m now on the hunt for their record. And I found one. A reissue. And, because if I buy something from someone on Discogs or start a crat, I want to see what else they have that would pique my interest. And save on shipping. ;)

So, there’s a guy who has The Real Kids. And I went searching. Narrowing it to “New Wave” this record caught my eye. When I clicked on it, lo and behold, it’s another album from 1980. 

Another. Album. From. 1980.

It’s a hoot. In a very Toy Dolls kind of way you get the absolute sense that these guys, in their devotion to jerky jerky Oi Ska, are not really taking anything seriously. “Think about anything that turns you, think about your favorite fantasy. Have you got one?” They sing on “Do You (Solo Sex for Two)” and, yeah, that’s the burgeoning libidinousness creeping out in 1980. Along with, say, Human Sexual Response and the not so subtle but we all missed it, lyrics of Doug Fieger (“And it hurts!”) this group seems devoted to as much cheekiness as they can muster.

And they had a hit!!! The covered an instrumental South African song, added lyrics and, boom, “Tom Hark” landed in the British Top 10! Which you could have told me that it was Madness and I would have no reason to dispute you.

Want more arcane stuff? The guitarist Johnny Helmer went on to become a lyricist for Marillion. Yes. THAT Marillion! He was the post Fish lyricist. After all that he went on to a career in marketing. Which, honestly, seems to be the route for more musicians than I expected in my travels. But, really shouldn’t be all that surprising. After all, isn’t all pop music an attempt at marketing a product and selling it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NesxPhJk_T8&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtUJUjFGYC7F-JEFbrK1RPl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXZNuyPy5-0&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtUJUjFGYC7F-JEFbrK1RPl&index=2

The 1980 Listening Post - Bugs Tomorrow - Bugs Tomorrow

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: February 19 1980 Bugs Tomorrow Bugs Tomorrow Genre: Power Pop, file under: Elvis wanna be Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Track Highlights: [Bitter Rice Summer Camp Chimpanzees] [Man…will 1980 ever end? I am not entirely sure how this one came under our radar but the research staff found it and, ever since then I’ve seen it in the record store. It’s like that thing where you are in the market for a car, like a Volkswagen, and then you see Volkswagens EVERYWHERE. You can’t avoid them. And that’s this record. All of sudden it’s everywhere. How is it? The contrast of John Henry Raskin’s Bowie-esque vocals against the anthemic acoustic guitars of the opening track is, at first, a bit jarring. Takes some getting used to. Ultimately, this gets mislabeled as “New Wave” but that makes sense. The album cover, with it’s painted trace that calls to mind the opening credits of SNL, circa 1980, is in a style that was de rigeur for about 6 months or so. Do you like Elvis Costello? Joe Jackson? Graham Parker? Gary Myrick? DB Cooper? Then you might like this. And I say “Might” meaning, you will. Because it’s 1980 and everyone who has a guitar seems to be able to write snappy, charged, well crafted rock tunes that fit on your Power Pop playlist. Do I wish Bugs trusted his voice enough to not put on an affect? Yes. Keyboardist Morley Bartnoff would go on to, among others, play with Dramarama. In fact, I think he still does. This is the exact kind of record that my roommate or I would have grabbed for $2.99 at Sounds in college. And we would have loved it. If you decide to listen to the full album all the tracks are here but you have to play them individually cuz this seems to be a comprehensive collection of everything Bugs Tomorrow has ever done. Only the last track here wouldn’t play. But it’s all here if you want it. Here’s the tracklist: Children of the Night Bitter Rice Summer Camp Chimpanzees Show Me Experience Burn with the Fever Runner-up Couples She Walked Everything’s Tonight ]

The 1980 Listening Post - Sarcofagus - Cycle of Life

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey

Released: 1980 Sarcofagus Cycle Of Life Genre: Prog Metal Rating: 1 out of 5 “The band's front-man Kimmo Kuusniemi stated in the documentary film Promised Land Of Heavy Metal that Finland in the early 1980s was not prepared for heavy metal.” [1] If this is heavy metal, the Listening Post in the 2020s is not prepared for it either. And if there ever comes a post-apocalyptic day where all music is lost but for a pristine copy of this album, those left to hear it will likely decide that music wasn’t really worth all the fuss anyways and get back to foraging for scrap metal. Vocals: Is this even in English? Maybe? Whatever it is makes Damo Suzuki sound like an English diction coach. Worse, Kimmo Kuusniemi can’t keep a tune so starting with the first track they sent him to the bottom of a deep chasm in hopes that would improve matters. (“At the very least we don’t have to look at him,” confirmed the guitarist.) They do give him bathroom breaks, such as on “Back to Black,” though the section at 2:25 might be more appropriate for a potty training book than at a dinner party, unless you are in a Bunuel film. [2] Instruments: they avoided the chasm, but it sounds like the drum kit is spread arbitrarily across the room, while the guitarist is sometimes jammed up in your face (especially in the aptly titled “Here I Am”). Mix engineers use the term “glue” to denote a compressor or other processor which makes all a song’s disparate elements have gelled. Well, Sarcofagus missed that day in class. Then again, the performances vary from barely passable attempts at prog rock to Legion of Rock Stars level of cohesion though, [3] so maybe the problem was more existential. I dare not add these as highlights, but they jammed a couple tracks to the end that are almost passable: straight-ahead rocker “Feed Me,” D&D psych folk “Hermit.” Maybe they should have skipped the prog and stuck with something they could play? But fear not, final track “You’re Talking Too Much” resumes the shitshow that defines the rest of the album. ********** 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcofagus 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Mptgi23YE&t=68s 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWkXczs1Tak&t=84s

The 1980 Listening Post - Footloose - Footloose

 Reviewed by Chris Roberts

Released: 1980 Footloose Footloose Genre: AOR Rating: 1 out of 5 I have a friend (we’ll call her Louise) who’s favorite meal is a chicken breast with plain rice. Louise doesn’t enjoy eating. I’m unclear if it’s a condition or extreme pickiness, but Louise’s meals consist of the few ingredients she can tolerate. In addition to rice and chicken, she also eats bananas, well-done beef patties and bread. No added spices or sauces. Footloose (the album) is the chicken and rice dinner for the Louises who don’t enjoy music. It’s music for when music is a requirement, not a joy. Here’s some examples: • The last song played in a very long end-credit sequence for a movie released in September receiving two thumbs down • The on-hold music for a bankrupt service company’s court ordered customer service line. • Suburban dentist office with shag carpeting and empty fish tank. • The fancy-free cassette that comes with your new Chevy Citation. • Small rural towns where teen dancing is forbidden. This crap is AOR at it’s AORiest. So smooth you don’t even know it’s there. None of that noise like you’d hear at say, Safeway, or on a Gino Vanelli album. I streamed Footloose on YouTube and the highlights would have to be the five seconds of advertising between songs. I would encourage Listening Post members, music fans, the music-tolerant, the comatose and the deaf to skip this one. You’ve heard it before you just don’t remember it. Internet finds: • The opening track “Leaving for Maui” was a 1979 Top Ten hit in Hawaii. Aloha fuckers! • Footloose blame goes to Tim Feehan, who quit “the band” after this album came out. Feehan went on to bigger success as the singer-songwriter with dozens of songs that have appeared on hit TV shows; he also co-wrote/produced Tiffany’s fifth album and owns Backroom Studios in Glendale, CA. • Thanks to Kevin Bacon, Kenny Loggins and the rest … this album is not the easiest to find on the internet.

The 1980 Listening Post - Danny Spanos - Danny Spanos

 Reviewed by Rod Brogan

Released: 1980 Danny Spanos Danny Spanos Genre: AOR Rating: 1 out of 5 Track Highlights: Queen Of The Boulevard Danny Spanos' Rolodex in the late '70s must have read like a greatest hits of the rock and drugs scene. He drummed for Sly and the Family Stone, was produced by Zeppelin and Stones engineer Andy Johns, and claimed to have been threatened with a recording contract or else by both Spencer Proffer of Quiet Riot infamy, and Sharon Osbourne's London gangster father Don. His video ramblings about his coke-fueled exploits are still up on YouTube, and quite frankly are more entertaining than his listless self-titled 1980 offering. Released on John Denver's RCA sub-label Windsong Records, the soupy, schmaltzy keyboard laden production sometimes gives way to legitimate rockers like Queen Of The Boulevard and the Smoke On The Water like riff of Under My Skin, but for the most part doesn't know if it wants to be Billy Squier or 52nd Street era Billy Joel. Album closer Rock Me, Shock Me decides to do neither of those things, with cloying fake handclaps on the chorus, when applause should have waited until it was mercifully over. Spanos had great AOR pipes, like a Stan Bush clone, and never gives less than an energetic performance. Curiously, for a drummer turned singer, he never gets behind the kit for his own album. Ross Salamon and A.J. Mayday capably handle the simple beats and fills, while Earl Slick of Bowie/John Lennon/Robert Smith fame steals the show when he is allowed. Three years later, Spanos finally started rocking out in earnest for Epic, and recorded Hot Cherie, which became a minor hit both for him that year and in 1992 for Neal Schonn's post-Journey band Hardline. He also recorded one soundtrack song each on the Tim Matheson comedy Up the Creek and Tom Cruise's All the Right Moves. By 1984, his coke addiction had rendered him impossible to work with. He was arrested for disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance after giving an impromptu record listening party to "industry executives and friends" at a Mojave Desert motel, as one does. After his arrest and tepid sales of that year's aptly titled Looks Like Trouble, even the gangster managers and producers gave up on him. Spanos descended into obscurity, and passed away in 2022. Most of his songs don't live on, but thankfully his video reminiscing does.

The 1980 Listening Post - True Confessions - True Confessions

 Reviewed by Kelly Hoben

Released: 1980 True Confessions True Confessions Genre: New Wave Pop Rating: 1.2 out of 5 The drums (Terry McCubben), bass (Mark Fournier), guitar (Glen Binmore and Julia Bourque), and keyboard (Blanche Rube) are ok. Nothing ground-breaking here, but the rhythm is tight, and a few guitar riffs provide some pleasant melodies despite several awkward key changes. The vocals (Glen, Julia, and Blanche), however, are weak - and at times, grating - and I wish they would stop. If someone were communicating the contents of this album’s lyrics to me in a conversation, I would excuse myself and avoid these people. It’s like “Grease” set to the sounds of 1980, with the same limited gender roles, lack of self-awareness, and misguided social landscape. When “I love you” is part of a refrain, you have to wonder how much time went into song writing. There are too many references to meeting romantic partners in the alleyway. It’s gross, and it makes me nervous. “7/11 Heaven” tracks a clique of girls as they follow boys in cars to shoot some meaningful glances across the intersection then tag along into a literal 7/11 to watch the boys buy cigarettes. Watch them. That’s all. The male voice praises the one girl who is busy with actual hobbies involving her tape recorder and her Nikon - “Modern Girl, you’re a real education / I see you’re smarter than a library,” except I think he actually says “liBERRY,” but I am not going to confirm it by listening to this drivel again, so I’m not sure. In “Smokey’s Gonna Dance Tonight,” the female voice is like, “His shoes are sharp / His moves are right / Dance card full every night.” Ugh. The 1980 instrumentation adds no value to this romanticization of the 1950’s ethos. In short, I hate the world that True Confessions has reiterated here. The music is not strong enough to compensate for the inane lyrics. This album has appropriately been buried.

The 1980 Listening Post - The Pinups - The Pinups

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: 1980 The Pinups The Pinups Genre: Electro New Wave Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Highlights: Girl of Wood Requisite 80s cover: A droning, sexless version of “Wild Thing”, which attempts to appropriate Donna Summerisms and ends up being that annoying girl who drunkenly throws herself at you at the club. Everything about The Pinups seem like a Kim Fowley project. A bunch of women (the novelty to stand out…something Kim seemed to love and believed he could control), a handful of trad rock songs jazzed up for the genre (with The Runaways it was punk, with these women it’s disco/New Wave). Now, I have no idea if Kim was involved with this because there’s just zero info about them. They do repeat their songs on different records. For instance, “Girl of Wood”, which is a highlight here, shows up on their other self-titled record, not to be confused with this self titled record. When we looked at them in 1982 we mentioned that they were a collaborative effort with Tony Carey, a musician of as equal talent as he had obscurity. And Ingeborg Hauke’s electro clash nonsense “Money and Love” is a perfect example of the callous belief that, “well, put pretty girls on the package…people will buy it!” No. No they won’t. This should be a lot more fun than it is, instead it’s proof of crass toss it against the wall, loss leader capitalism that the record industry is known for.

The 1980 Listening Post - The Noyes Brothers - Sheep From Goats

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey

Released: July 1980 The Noyes Brothers Sheep From Goats Genre: Excremental Music Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Noyes Brothers is an Australian engineering firm established in 1888 by Edward and Henry Noyes. It is also a forgettably quirky “supergroup” (lol) of Object Music celebrities Steve “Spherical Objects” Solamar and Steve “Steve Miro” Miro. [1] The album opens with a track called “Impending Doom” and closes with a track called “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time.” Somewhere between those two tracks is one called “Sometimes”, on which Miro sings, “Sometimes it’s easy, just close your eyes, and it all goes away. But sometimes it’s not so easy. It burns. It really burns.” That is really all you need to know about this album. ********** 1. I should have looked at the cover before I took this. It says it in plain English: “100 minutes of Solamar/Miro.” Having heard albums by both, that’s 100 more minutes than I was hoping to hear from them.

The 1980 Listening Post - Seals & Crofts - The Longest Road

 Reviewed by Brian Kushnir

Released: July 1980 Seals & Crofts The Longest Road Genre: Yacht Rock On A Smooth Jazz Cruise To Gilligan's Island Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Highlights: when it ended 10 thoughts on The Longest Road by Seals and Crofts 1. The Longest Road? More like the longest 42 minutes of my life. 2. The album that got S&C mercilessly dropped from their label. 3. Their first album with no Crofts in the writing credits, a fact that may be useful as a trivia question answer. 4. The patented Seals and Crofts vocal harmonies do show up on occasion. 5. I wonder who called in a favor and got them Herbie Hancock and Stanley Clarke? 6. Even the Jazz legends can’t make it swing, so forget about searching for meaning here. 7. Torture music for insomniacs. 8. If yacht rock’s your bag be careful not to barf in this one. 9. In hindsight one can see their begging for world peace here was not at all effective. Half a point for trying. 10 Why couldn’t this have been the legendary lost album that explored the intersection of Seals and Crofts and Sid and Marty Krofft?

The 1980 Listening Post - Rod Vey - Can You Hear Me Mother?

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey

Released: 1980 Rod Vey Can You Hear Me Mother? Genre: New Wave / Synth-Pop Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Highlights: Metal Love Lowlights: That ridiculous falsetto at the end of “It’s Your Choice” -- https://youtu.be/ZBbjZF7jFzE?t=195 The sole album by Belfast sax session player Rod McVey is not worth your time. Take one part Numan ripoff, one part generic 80s no-hit wonder soundtrack filler, and one part “before” recordings for an Autotune ad and you have a fair approximation of McVey’s album here. The attempt at new wave feels so lost in translation that I assumed Rod was German – the album was only released in Germany and features a cartoonish, German-language closer in “Sterbend in Berlin.” But the perpetrator appears to have been Irish. Whatever its origin, only reach for this album if you are seeking the opposite of the pleasure principle. Oh, but do spend 15 seconds checking out the lowlight.

The 1980 Listening Post - Laurie and the Sighs - Laurie And The Sighs

 Reviewed by Rod Brogan

Released: May 1980 Laurie And The Sighs Laurie And The Sighs Genre: Rock-ish Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Highlights: Never Go Back Can the woman who replaced Betty Buckley in Cats sing a Pretenders album? SHOULD the woman who replaced Betty Buckley sing a Pretenders album? Broadway vet, and now Broadway legend, (the Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Cafe is named in her memory) Beechman signed with Atlantic in 1980, and released this rock LP. But is it rock? Beechman singing at full throttle throughout makes it sound more like a cabaret performance with an electric guitarist accompaniment. A Chrissie Hynde barroom singer approach would be more appropriate for this material. Beechman was the real deal vocally, and she shows her chops here. The problem is, she may show them off too much. Barishnikov, when discussing choreography, used to say "Don't open all your Christmas presents at once. " Meaning, save some good stuff for last. Here, Beechman is Broadway belting from the first verse. Love Hostage is the worst offender. It gives her, and the songs, nowhere to go dynamically, and makes the album sound like karaoke. Party Lights, a cover of the 1962 Claudine Clark hit, has no backing vocals, or even double tracked vocals, it's just Beechman alone throughout. Would a group chorus have killed them?! The songs themselves are nothing special, but are played with an endearing 1980 pop energy. The sound, most crucially the drums, is thin and tinny, so there's no rock punch. At times, the whole thing sounds like a glorified demo. Beechman was in the original Annie, and A Star To Be was written specifically for her voice when the producers heard what she could do. And a star to be she was, performing in the original Broadway cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and playing Fantine in Les Mis on Broadway. But she was not a star to be thanks to Atlantic Records. The album was a failure, and Laurie and the Sighs were no more. I'm going to lay this one at the feet of first time producer Roger Probert, who should have stepped into the vocal booth and told Laurie to sing it to Row B, not to Row Z.

The 1980 Listening Post - George Harrasment (AKA Homosexuals) - Masai Sleep Walking

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: 1980 George Harrasment (AKA Homosexuals) Masai Sleep Walking Genre: Indie Lo-Fi Record Store Secret Find Rating: 1.75 out of 5 R. Stevie Moore. Daniel Johnston. The Homosexuals. Jandek. That’s where this band lives. They sound like they were recording it for themselves and then had the opportunity to put it on vinyl or cassette and put it out to the public to see what would happen. Yeah, there are more songs here than on Jandek’s garbage. But it’s not as heart wrenching as Johnston nor as accomplished as Moore. This sounds like me and my roommates in our dorm room with a 4 track. You don’t need to have heard that. You don’t really need to hear this. I did. But that’s the job. The joke here is that “Harassment” sounds like “Harrison”. Except that it doesn’t. They and others want to put the accent on the “Ha” and not where it is grammatically correct. The pronunciation of the word was changed so that people wouldn’t hear the word “Ass” with their delicate ears. Since the band didn’t know that and thought they were being cheeky, I have to dock them an entire point. From the notes in the YouTube link: All tracks were recorded at home. Some on 2 track Revo + some on Mono Portable cheapo cassette machine. All tracks mastered on cassette machine. Tracks: 10. on Side One + 1. 6. on Side Two Rough Mixes from Sloppy Sound Studios - Surrey. The first song on Side Two is sung by lovely 'Michelle' of Battersea. Love to the twins and L Voag for bass on Tracks 1. and 6. of Side Two and much inspiration on the rest. This album was cut at Pye Cutting Studios and consequently sounds terrible.

The 1980 Listening Post - Legend (OK) - Legend

 Reviewed by Kelly Hoben

Released: 1980 Legend (OK) Legend Genre: Southern Rock Rating: 1.9 out of 5 Highlights: (skilled lead guitar) Lowlight: Carolina (a boring ballad that like every other song is just way too long) The optimistic opening of Legend inspires me to crack open a cold one and don my jorts for some fun in the sun. But this song, like the rest of the album, quickly overwhelms with too much speed, too many instruments, and too many notes. The vocals are unfortunately crystal clear. I find myself enjoying the long instrumental parts despite the excessive noodling more than the amateurish lyrics and vocals that often fall flat. Legend tries desperately to emulate the big hitters of 70’s southern rock, and the fun guitar solos are generally impressive. But the speedy, mechanical rhythm puts no swing in my denim cut-offs. I don’t know if it was the knowledge that ‘The Reason Why’ is the last song on the album and freedom was growing closer with every second, but I found the first half of this song pleasantly nostalgic. It reminds me of being too little to see into the front seat of an Oldsmobile where a cracked window lets cold air and cigarette smoke whip across my face. It’s past my bedtime, and we’re passing under streetlamps whose beams periodically change the inside of my eyelids from black to orange. Then with just one beat of warning, the song erupts into fast, senseless rock, and I imagine my little eyes popping open to behold the golden arches on the side of the road. One of the grown-ups twists the volume knob to the left and refuses my request for a drive-through Happy Meal. I sink back down into the giant seat and let the streetlights wash over me as the radio crackles. How much longer until we are home? The plain lyrics of the album express yearning to find freedom, to shake the memories of a failed love, or to elude death by running away on horses and trains. The desperation of both the sentiments and the music is contained in limited dynamics and lack of nuance. It rushes forth without understanding how to escape itself. Billy Joe Stange has commented on YouTube in a way that suggests even he nearly forgot the album existed, but that he believes in his heart there’s something in it for listeners of today to enjoy, and judging by the remarks of other commenters, there is. But overall, I can’t say that I count myself among those listeners.

The 1980 Listening Post - The Hollies - "Buddy Holly"

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: October 1 1980 The Hollies “Buddy Holly” Genre: Nostalgia Rating: 2 out of 5 I’m not sure how to evaluate this. At times it’s New Wave, mostly Soft Rock, but it’s mostly Buddy Holly songs, except when it’s not. As performed by a group that named themselves after Buddy. This is the sort of thing that shows up every once in a while like when Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones teamed up to record Everly Brothers songs. I mean, it’s nice. But are you going to shell out $20 for cover versions when the original, perfect tracks are out there, always available? I mean, their schmaltzy version of “Heratbeat” makes me want to abandon listening to music for the duration of my afternoon. If this is meant as an ode to the master it is completely unnecessary. If it was meant as anything else, it is also completely unnecessary. The tear on the glasses mean more about the abuse of these tunes than the death of Buddy. Stick with the originals instead of these Yacht Rock versions.

The 1980 Listening Post - Steve Miro and the Eyes - Rude Intrusion

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: 1980 Steve Miro And The Eyes Rude Intrustion Genre: New Wave Rating: 2 out of 5 A four track recorder, a drum machine, a Casio keyboard and some occasional real instruments result in an album of what could be interstitial entries on some syndicated comedy show. Except that none of it is funny or all that interesting. Steve has lots to say about society and government as well but he’s just unctuous and the songs aren’t there.

The 1980 Listening Post - John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett

 Reviewed by Allen Lulu

Released: August 1980 John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett Way & Bar Genre: Novelty Noise Rating: 2 out of 5 Were Otway and Barrett stars in Britain? I never heard of them. This sounds like something that would have made it to Dr. Demento’s show. It’s manic and forgettable. The humor must be provincial. I don’t get it. Maybe you have to be there.

The 1980 Listening Post - Snowaxe - We're All Different

 Reviewed by Chris Roberts

Released: 1980 Snowaxe We're All Different Genre: Cold Noodles Rating: 2 out of 5 Snowaxe! An unopened, mint copy of the Ontario power trio’s one and only LP, We’re All Different, sold for $100 in 2014. There are currently nine copies for sale on Discogs, and with Canadian shipping, you might be able to score one for closer to $50. Don’t try listening on the streamers either. It’s only available on Citizen Freak dot com, where it is free to play a billion trillion times if you want. Trust me, you don’t want to pay $100 or $50 for this album, even if you are some kind of heavy metal completist. Aside from their cool, edgy name, Snowaxe doesn’t sound very metal. For a few seconds, on a couple tracks (“Harlem’s Screamin’” and “Amigos”) there are some jammy bass noodles from Iam Nishio that recalled the experimental math rock band Battles. Mostly it’s just sub-Zeppelin, sub-Halen, sub-Hagar rock—and unfinished, unrehearsed to boot. Under better conditions, singer Ed McDonald has a decent voice (play a couple seconds of his 2008 solo album Incognito, under the name Eddie M, but don’t linger on it). With Snowaxe, McDonald apparently forgot to winterize his pipes, because there’s a lot of excess air on We’re All Different. An ounce of prevention, boys. A billion trillion times? I couldn’t listen to it a second time.

The 1980 Listening Post - Sad Cafe - Sad Cafe

 Reviewed by Robert Sliger

Released: October 3 1980 Sad Café Sad Café Genre: AOR Pop Rock With An Identity Crisis Rating: 2 out of 5 Highlights: Digital Daydream Blues (the intro and its variation, mainly) What Am I Gonna Do (Steely Dan embraces its soft pop side) I’m In Love Again (if you’re gonna pander New Orleans swamp rock tropes, do it like this) The best thing about this justly obscure album is its competence. It’s a bit too earnest and derivative for my taste, but is a perfectly “OK” late-70s blues-rock-pop album for the AOR-in-the-background-while-running-a-vacuum crowd. You know who you are. These are competently written uptempo tunes with some perky hooks, competently played by committed, professional musicians and competently recorded and mixed (though the Amazon Music stream I evaluated had some phasing issues, which I’m not assuming is on tape). It’s competently pleasant while listening to it and instantly forgettable when done. Just like this review. I know who I am.